11th Sep 2015 05:59
LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares are set to open higher Friday, taking the lead from a positive close on Wall Street and relative calm in Asian stocks, with a light economic and corporate calendar seen ahead for the day.
In Asia on Friday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index trades flat, while in China, the Hang Seng index is up 0.6% and the Shanghai Composite is flat.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open higher at 6,165.80. The index closed lower on Thursday at 6,155.81.
"European shares look set to open higher, tracking the advance on Wall Street but with a week to go until the US Federal Reserve makes its decision, markets are likely to remain on edge with volatile moves possible in either direction," said CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler.
US investors focused again Thursday on employment data coming from the US as they looked for clues as to whether the Fed will raise rates at next week's Federal Open Market Committee meeting.
The US Labor Department released a report showing that jobless claims fell slightly, in line with estimates in the week ended September 4. The report said initial jobless claims fell to 275,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level of 281,000.
The report showed a slight increase in continuing jobless claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance. Continuing claims increased by 10,000 in the week ended August 28.
Oanda analyst Craig Erlam believes that the uncertainty is causing more problems in the markets than the prospect of a rate hike itself.
"This view is increasingly shared by many emerging market central bankers who think the Fed should just raise rates already and remove the uncertainty from the markets," says Erlam.
Wall Street ended higher Thursday, with shares in tech-giant Apple regaining the losses seen after the launch of new versions of its key products on Wednesday. The DJIA and the S&P 500 closed up 0.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite finished up 0.8%.
On the UK corporate front, aerospace and engineering group Rolls-Royce Holdings said it has won a contract from French airplane maker Airbus to provide Trent 700 engines and TotalCare engine service support for five Beluga XL air transporter aircraft.
Rolls-Royce said the deal is worth USD700.0 million and will replace the current Airbus Beluga fleet, which is powered by engines from a different manufacturer.
In a light UK corporate calendar Friday, JD Wetherspoon releases full-year results, while SThree issues a third-quarter interim management statement.
In the economic calendar, German consumer price index is due at 0700 BST, while UK consumer inflation expectations are expected at 0930 BST. In the US, the producer price index is due at 1330 BST, before the Reuters/Michigan consumer sentiment index, due at 1500 BST.
By Daniel Ruiz; [email protected]
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